In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in which the two focal points are the same. The elongation of an ellipse is measured by its eccentricity ${\displaystyle e}$, a number ranging from ${\displaystyle e=0}$ (the limiting case of a circle) to ${\displaystyle e=1}$ (the limiting case of infinite elongation, no longer an ellipse but a parabola).

An ellipse has a simple algebraic solution for its area, but only approximations for its perimeter (also known as circumference), for which integration is required to obtain an exact solution.

Analytically, the equation of a standard ellipse centered at the origin with width ${\displaystyle 2a}$ and height ${\displaystyle 2b}$ is:

$${\displaystyle {\frac {x^{2}}{a^{2}}}+{\frac {y^{2}}{b^{2}}}=1.}$$

Assuming ${\displaystyle a\geq b}$, the foci are ${\displaystyle (\pm c,0)}$ for ${\textstyle c={\sqrt {a^{2}-b^{2}}}}$. The standard parametric equation is:

$${\displaystyle (x,y)=(a\cos(t),b\sin(t))\quad {\text{for}}\quad 0\leq t\leq 2\pi .}$$

Ellipses are the closed type of conic section: a plane curve tracing the intersection of a cone with a plane (see figure). Ellipses have many similarities with the other two forms of conic sections, parabolas and hyperbolas, both of which are open and unbounded. An angled cross section of a right circular cylinder is also an ellipse.

An ellipse may also be defined in terms of one focal point and a line outside the ellipse called the directrix: for all points on the ellipse, the ratio between the distance to the focus and the distance to the directrix is a constant. This constant ratio is the above-mentioned eccentricity: